Carver TFM-35x

The "X" series TFM-35 & 55 are a totally different design then the originals and are put together in such a way that in order to repair them they need to be completely disassembled. If I remember correctly, the main board is actually installed upside down with no access through the bottom of the unit so it's very time consuming to trouble shoot and repair.

I've had an A-760x and an A-500x serviced and they are totally different again from previous models and are easier to work on. Rita told me that there's factory updates for the "A" series which will help prolong the life of the units, I think some resistor changes. She also told me that she doesn't see too many of them but when they do come in due to failure, it's usually pretty bad, like whole boards are burnt out.

I'd like to know more about that in that I have an A-500x

I just had an A-500x serviced last week-- I original brought it in to have a binding post replaced that was damaged in shipping. That's when Rita told me about the factory updates. All she said was that some of the resistors needed to be replaced, and that it would really extend the life of the unit. You'd have to contact her to find out more. She's not in today but I'll ask her more about it tomorrow and let you know what I find out.

Jesse I believe you but have never heard that before? Anyone else heard of these differences before? Hell...I may tear down my 55x's to see.....

I've seen the inside of of an "X" series amplifier and if you remove the top cover you will see the bottom of the main board and all the solder connections, no caps etc. as they're on the inside of the unit under the board. If you remove the top cover of your amp, take some pics and post them here!

If I pull it out of the closet I will do!!!!!

Well, that's not unusual if the bottom comes off too. C-1s are built with their components hanging upside down.

Bill, I talked with Rita this morning about the service that was done to the A-500x. She said that there's pairs of 10 Ohm resistors on each amp board and on the output stage that need to be swapped to 1 Ohm resistors because the originals have a drifting problem and will lead to no output on one channel or both. You might want to call her just to verify.

I looked at the schema, and there are 4 10Ω resistors (R60, R61, R66 and R67) on the bases of the output transistors. The emitters have big (5W) 0.22Ω on them. That's probably what she's talking about.